Complaints against officers

[Fedster + 1,307]

Retailers and shop workers' leaders have demanded tougher laws to end attacks on retail staff.

Under threat: Nine out of 10 shop workers have been threatened by thugs

Date - 11th May 2021
By - Chris Smith

One of the country’s biggest supermarkets and the retail workers union have demanded new legislation to curb the number of assaults on staff.

The Co-Op, small traders and the union Usdaw have written to the prime minister because of a huge rise in the number of violent incidents against staff.

Co-Op revealed its stores have been involved in 400 incidents where weapons have been used against shopworkers, with over half of those involving sharp implements, such as a syringe or a knife or bottle.

Data from the firm showed a 76% increase in recorded anti-social behaviour and verbal abuse compared to 2019, with more than 100 incidents every day.

Over the last five years (since 2016) there has been a 35-fold increase in this type of incident.

The firm has been campaigning for action since 2018 and has worked with backbench MPs to get changes including an attempt to get the Offensive Weapons Bill amended to make attacks on shop workers selling age- restricted goods a more serious crime.

Since then, the government has refused to create new legislation.

Today's Queen’s Speech was described as a missed opportunity by Dr Emmeline Taylor, author of the report.

“The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill provides an opportunity to enact legislation that will better serve victims, protect communities and rehabilitate offenders," she said.

“The Bill introduces better protections for emergency workers. Given the alarming frequency and severity of assaults against shop workers, an amendment to the Bill to include them would signal that these crimes will be taken seriously.”

Police chiefs are also under pressure to deal with the issue.

The Co-Op has shared its evidence with the Home Affairs Select Committee and members are now investigating.

Police leads for retail crime told them they don’t have enough officers to respond to the rocketing number of incidents.

Store owners say they have had enough as they are responsible for their staff as employers.

Association of Convenience Stores chief executive James Lowman said: “Retailers and their colleagues faced over a million incidents of verbal abuse and thousands of attacks over the last year, despite keeping their communities going throughout the pandemic.”

Paddy Lillis, general secretary of the shopworkers union Usdaw, said: “We welcome another expert report from Dr Taylor, but deeply regret that her further intervention is necessary because of growing violence, threats and abuse against shopworkers.

“Usdaw’s 2020 survey showed that nine in 10 shopworkers had been abused last year and the situation had become much worse during the pandemic. So it is very disappointing that the Government continues to resist calls from across the retail industry for new legislation to protect shopworkers.”

It’s not just assaults; organised gangs are targeting stores to steal goods in bulk that can then be re-sold on.

Six men were jailed last month for a series of robberies targeting Asda supermarkets across the UK.

The gang were sentenced to 42 months each after being found guilty of 81incidents stealing goods worth more than £160,000.

Detective Constable Paul Matchett, of the Northwich Beat Initiative Team, said: “It is clear that this gang travelled to the UK with the sole intention of committing crime.

“While their plan worked initially, they underestimated the partnership work between the police and the business community and they are now behind bars facing the consequences of their actions.”

The Home Affairs Select Committee will hear from the police minister tomorrow on what action the government is taking.

The committee said: “A number of major retailers, unions and retail groups have called for the introduction of a specific criminal offence to tackle the rise in cases, however the Government has chosen not to pursue this option.

“The Committee will question the minister on what the government plans to do to improve the police and criminal justice response to cases. It will also consider what other factors can lead to retail crime, including drug addiction, and what can be done to mitigate these related issues.”

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[Dave SYP + 2,961]

I don’t think more legislation is necessarily the answer. Better security measures and visible, adequately trained security staff together with appropriate and proportionate sentencing of the perpetrators would help. Retailers make vast profits, but their investment in security measures to protect their staff and property is woefully inadequate in lots of cases.

[Zulu 22 + 4,569]

Retailers may make large profits but they are still entitled to protection. Sadly the legislation  is not the answer. Any legislation would be of no use as it is in the Courts hands to make sentences have an impact. They must stop accepting "Bleeding Heart" stories from the lawyers, not breast fed as a child, abused as a child, they have turned their lives around, they are no longer on drugs, etc, etc, etc.  They must also stop giving different leniency to female offenders over male offenders. Treat them all the same.

[Indiana Jones + 1,082]

Things like, "I'll need you to provide a statement sir"... 

"Oh sorry mate, I'm too busy / clocking off now" etc don't help.

[BlueBob + 690]

2 minutes ago, Indiana Jones said:

Things like, "I'll need you to provide a statement sir"... 

"Oh sorry mate, I'm too busy / clocking off now" etc don't help.

And you can just hear them say that.  Interestingly, the OP post refers to lots of legislation which could be considered.  I'm not sure why there is a necessity to add another layer unless its to give stats as to how often that new legislation is also not followed up!.  Perhaps part of the review could look at the historic dat to consider how may reports there were, how many dropped by the complainant then how many are open cases and then convictions.  The example in the post about a single group committing robberies doesn't;t really reflect on what seems to be gist of the problem, namely and probably more frequent, is the low levels of abuse and/or physical assault.  
Not saying the assaults are acceptable, rather, there are laws in place,  the tragedy is they are not or cannot be enforced.

[Dave SYP + 2,961]

4 hours ago, Indiana Jones said:

Things like, "I'll need you to provide a statement sir"... 

"Oh sorry mate, I'm too busy / clocking off now" etc don't help.

I know. That’s why there’s a need for the retailers to take their share of responsibility. I’ve known one young person been left on the shop floor, whilst 2 more senior members of staff were in the office doing cashier/admin for half an hour. They were so surprised when they returned from the office to find a shelf full of their higher value stock had disappeared!? 🙄 No adequate CCTV. Never heard of deterrents or crime prevention!

[SimonT + 1,185]

On the flip side, if you have been asked to write your tenth statement about being assaulted after 9 jobs that went nowhere, even after court. Would you want to do a 10th?

 

There is a pact that is supposed to be upheld between the criminal justice system and the public. If X happens to you, we will deal with the person appropriately and get you justice. 

If that pact is out of balance (and many would say it is) then how can we expect the public to support us?

Fancy going to court for a day (postponed 3 times), for no money, causing serious issues at work (unless self employed, sorry) 12 months after your assault if lucky, just to see the person get a small fine they don't need to pay?

No? Well that's not very supportive of justice. 

[Dave SYP + 2,961]

I agree SimonT. Our CJ System is a joke and must be seen as ridiculous by other countries, especially those who based their own CJ System on ours all those years ago.  Crimes go unreported due to the 101 lines not being staffed properly or call-overload, then not enough officers to deal with the job doesn’t help matters. As others have also said, when, after an age the job gets to court our poor accused represented by the best story-teller in the county is patted on the head and sent away with another course of education to complete. We could also look at the fact of there being numerous professional organisations designed to support convicts. There seems to be only limited ones to support victims of crime and they’re staffed by volunteers! It says a lot about our ways of working doesn’t it? 🙄

[stewie_griffin + 484]

As others above have said, assault and theft are already illegal. If existing legislation can't be enforced, why bother introducing more of it?

Not sure I agree that more shop security is the answer (although it might help). Shop staff surely have the right not to be assaulted without having to wear stab vests all day*.

 

*I exaggerate, but you get my point.

[SimonT + 1,185]

At the moment and pretty much however you paint it, the government isn't really interested in really dealing with crime and I think if we are honest, most of the population aren't that fussed either. 

Yes they would certainly say they want crime down, but if you tried to stick 10% on council tax suddenly it's a no. 

So we sort of try and keep a general lid on, suspects are allowed to offend frequently with lip service to punishment and greater lip service to rehabilitation. 

Stacks of money into social care, education, mental health services and probation would significantly reduced crime and improve lives. But it costs. A vague and half baked approach that sort of sounds ok is much cheaper. 

[BizzieBee 100]

36 minutes ago, SimonT said:

but if you tried to stick 10% on council tax suddenly it's a no. 

It’s a no from me, too. People pay enough taxes and the public sector is an absolute goldmine. The people spending the money are clueless, that’s the issue. You could take another 20% and it won’t change. 
 

 

[skydiver + 1,099]

I want to know what Andy Burnham is doing wearing MPS uniform in the PO pic?  😁

[Zulu 22 + 4,569]

41 minutes ago, skydiver said:

I want to know what Andy Burnham is doing wearing MPS uniform in the PO pic?  😁

Because he looks gormless and clueless, which he is. Despite this he gets elected because the PCC's are political animals and Politics should have no place in Policing. For years it has been said that because Manchester is a left wing hot bed you could put a Red rosette on an Elephant and it would get elected.

[stewie_griffin + 484]

13 hours ago, SimonT said:

At the moment and pretty much however you paint it, the government isn't really interested in really dealing with crime and I think if we are honest, most of the population aren't that fussed either. 

.. 

So we sort of try and keep a general lid on, suspects are allowed to offend frequently with lip service to punishment and greater lip service to rehabilitation. 

Stacks of money into social care, education, mental health services and probation would significantly reduced crime and improve lives. But it costs. A vague and half baked approach that sort of sounds ok is much cheaper. 

This is so true. I often wonder how much worse things would have to get for this to change.

For example, we have around 30-50 homicides every year in the city in which I work. I wonder if one year we had 300 whether that would make a difference in what people thought about crime and punishment.

My feeling is that it wouldn't (assuming the vast majority were gang-related). Like most North American police agencies, we're under a fair amount of pressure from the progressive BLM-type activists and I really think that we could stop doing most of our work and it probably wouldn't make that much difference.

[Dave SYP + 2,961]

Back on topic.... Do you agree that a better level of security the door and inside shops would be a deterrent to thieves and robbers and better support staff within? I look at how football grounds and other large venues operate their own internal security and safety. It can’t just be left to the police anymore can it?